Books/Preorders missing from Amazon
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Volume 5 is down too, at least the kindle edition.
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Before anyone jumps to conclusions, we received notification that these volumes "provided a misleading customer experience" i.e. some people were trying to find the manga and reported them.
Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.
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@myskaros Is the confusion reported in regards to Arifureta or is it possibly part of why some of the initially removed light novels were taken down? Just curious since I know some of the initial wave had Light Novel listed as part of the title.
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@Darkflame Specifically for the 3 volumes of Arifureta that were removed yesterday.
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@myskaros Are volumes removed by this "misleading" takedown treated differently than "content violations," which are banned permanently and require putting up new pages? As in, is it possible the volumes will be back with their original ASINs, just with altered titles and kindle genre?
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You gotta love that right, someone’s to stupid to realize what they are buying and that is somehow J novel clubs fault.
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@catstorm said in Books/Preorders missing from Amazon:
You gotta love that right, someone’s to stupid to realize what they are buying and that is somehow J novel clubs fault.
To be fair, it's often easy to confuse the manga and light novel versions of a series if you're not careful, and as I understand it, JNC is listing light novels as manga even though they aren't because of how it affects their visibility on Amazon.
Personally, I don't think that it's entirely surprising if someone complained to Amazon that a light novel was listed as a manga, much as it sucks that that caused them to take it down. Ideally, there would be a clear delineation between light novels and manga on any site selling them, but IIRC, Amazon doesn't have a light novel category.
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@Kalessin said in Books/Preorders missing from Amazon:
IIRC, Amazon doesn't have a light novel category.
They do, but they don't.
https://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Books-Teen-Young-Adult-Light-Novels/zgbs/books/11764665011
JNC can't pick the "light novel" category sadly under KDP publishing.
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@Kalessin
My man, the books literally have “Light Novel” in the title twice, I can’t see what more J novel club can do.Here’s a direct copy of how they are titled
“ Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest Volume 7 (Light Novel) (Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest (Light Novel))”
How is that ambiguous.
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My dude, volume 10 of Arifureta doesn't have a "(Light Novel)" in the title.
(I think that one is just an oversight).
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That’s kind of interesting I just checked and it is the only volume that doesn’t have “Light Novel” in the title.
So yeah I’m guessing that’s an oversight.
But as all previous volumes had LN in the title, I feel it’s safe to assume the removed volumes did as well.
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@myskaros said in Books/Preorders missing from Amazon:
Before anyone jumps to conclusions, we received notification that these volumes "provided a misleading customer experience" i.e. some people were trying to find the manga and reported them.
Which makes me wonder. Why can Amazon now write the underlying cause for the removal?
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@Terrence said in Books/Preorders missing from Amazon:
JNC can't pick the "light novel" category sadly under KDP publishing.
And THIS is what I think they need to address. I'm pretty sure that there are other ways of publishing ebooks through Amazon--I have bought books before (Baen Books) where it said "at request of the publisher, this book is sold without DRM". If they can publishing without DRM on Kindle's platform, then SURELY it's possible for JNC to publish under the Light Novel category instead of having to choose between "Young Adult" or "Manga".
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@Zehd That might require a contract with Amazon where we're not allowed to sell on other platforms or they take a bigger cut from each sale.
Whoever said nothing's impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.
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@Zehd said in Books/Preorders missing from Amazon:
@Terrence said in Books/Preorders missing from Amazon:
JNC can't pick the "light novel" category sadly under KDP publishing.
And THIS is what I think they need to address. I'm pretty sure that there are other ways of publishing ebooks through Amazon--I have bought books before (Baen Books) where it said "at request of the publisher, this book is sold without DRM". If they can publishing without DRM on Kindle's platform, then SURELY it's possible for JNC to publish under the Light Novel category instead of having to choose between "Young Adult" or "Manga".
Baen is a "real" publisher using the publisher tools for Kindle, not a "self-publisher" using KDP.
Amazon themselves can add the LN category to KDP but until then JNC is at their mercy.
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@myskaros said in Books/Preorders missing from Amazon:
@Zehd That might require a contract with Amazon where we're not allowed to sell on other platforms or they take a bigger cut from each sale.
Contract matters I have no knowledge of, but I know that Baen, at least, sells on other platforms (including their own site), but then again, iirc, Baen was selling ebooks before there was a Kindle.
@HarmlessDave said in Books/Preorders missing from Amazon:
Baen is a "real" publisher using the publisher tools for Kindle, not a "self-publisher" using KDP.
So the question is, what does it take for JNC to be a "real" publisher and be able to use the real publisher tools? It seems to me that the (potentially automated) efforts to police the self-publishers, who from what I can see ANYONE can sign up to be and publish any drivel they can think of (up to and including outright rips from other sources, at least until they get caught) is the cause of half or more of the issues here.
So on the one hand, they want to police the self-publishers, and yet you can find... "anime themed pillow covers" that are FAR worse than anything JNC puts out easily found by accident in Amazon. Often on the same page as the anime when searching for that anime. (shiver)
[should this be moved to another thread?] -
@Zehd The fact of the matter is that through KDP, J-Novel gets a 70% royalty from sales. If they were to become a "real" publisher, that royalty rate would significantly drop to levels that they would be making way less money, possibly even not even profitable. For a digital-focused company where 50% of their sales happen on Amazon, that high royalty rate is crucial.
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I have no inside knowledge on "graduating" from KDP to being a "real" Kindle publisher, but I suspect that annual sales is a part of it, at least for getting a decent revenue split as @myskaros mentioned.
Baen is small-ish for a traditional publisher, but it's a 37 year old company that has been a top publisher in the science fiction and fantasy genres for decades now.
JNC is doing a great job cranking out LN translations but that's a smaller niche and it's still a tiny company by comparison.
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I can notice that Magicmaster's JNC Premium Ebooks (Volumes 2, 4 and 5, at least) are now including the color illustrations at the back. Latest Der Werwolf didn't though.
Should I expect this to be the norm for Amazon-disapproved series?
Quof got a break.
WHAT'S THE STORY WITH THAT FREAKING BLACK DRAGON?! -
@Kalessin
As far as I know, Yen On/Press and even Seven Seas Entertainment do the same thing. Oves messeed up and bought a few LNs inlew of manga. But then again that first accident is what got me into LNs so I really can't complain. Everywhere you go it's always buyer beware so I don't get the big deal hear.
